English II

Today we came up with a class contract to improve our learning environment. As a class you decided that we would work on being quiet when the teacher is talking or while doing individual work, and on not making random noises such as popping, whistling, etc. Consequences for this behavior will be tally marks on the board. Each tally means 30 seconds after class. The reward for going a whole period with no tally marks is 5 minutes of free time at the end of the class.

After we agreed to our contract, we started to plan writing your thesis. I want you to write down the following on your paper:

Make two circle maps. Put things you "can control" in one, and things you "cannot control" in the other. Brainstorm as many things as possible. In the box outside your circle answer the question: where did you get this information from? Then, at the bottom of your paper, answer the question: how much of what happens in our lives do we control?

Read the essay prompt and create a tree map. Each branch will be one of the three texts we read (Outliers, The Sports Gene, and Macbeth). Use your tree map to find the main idea of each text.

Cornell notes on theme. Use the Google Slides presentation below to take notes. When done with notes, look for examples of where you can see the theme developing in Macbeth. Then use the sentence frame on the last slide to write your "summary" of your Cornell notes. Turn in at the end of class.

Go to Google Classroom and click on the link for "Understanding Macbeth". You'll need to log in with your PSUSD Google account. As you watch the video, take notes in your book about what you learn. There will be 8 questions along the way that you will need to answer.

HOMEWORK:I extended the Think questions to be due tomorrow. Work on them at home.

Check Google Classroom for today's assignment. Today I introduced Flipgrid. It's on online tool we will use to respond to prompts with a short, 90 second, video clip. Try it out and post your first video on the prompt provided.

We will use Flipgrid for our book talks from now on. You can find a link to the book talk Flipgrid on Google Classroom. BOOK TALKS ARE DUE OCTOBER 6TH!

Since we read through Macbeth for the first time yesterday, I wanted to start today with a video representation of Act I Scene III. You can find THREE different video clips (one with explanations) on Google Classroom.

After talking about the video, go to StudySync and open the "First Read: Macbeth". Watch the SyncTV video to learn about the text from student conversations. Then answer the Think Questions on the next tab.

StudySync: Complete the writing prompt on the Close Read: Outliers assignment. If you were not here on Tuesday when we went over textual evidence OR if you need a refresher, read through the assigned "Skill: Textual Evidence". It will give you the information you missed and help you answer the write prompt.